Understanding rates and how to quote your voiceover project isn’t easy. From knowing what genre the project fits in, quoting appropriately, having a good grasp on usage fees, session fees, and everything in between, there are a lot of factors to account for. Get the rates education you need to ensure you’re standing up for your hard-earned value and taking control of your business! And for an even more hands on approach to building your voiceover business, we recommend joining the GVAA Membership. One-on-one rate guide coaching is included as one of your many benefits. Click here to learn more.

In this current age of self-marketing and promotion, voice actors have to operate much like their own agent. They’re making connections, building relationships, and finding the work. Therefore, understanding the different genres of voice over, differences in rate structures, usage standards, and best practices gives you a solid foundation with which to build your business.

Rates Coaching sessions address all these areas so you can operate your business from a place of confidence and authority. Let’s take a look at these in more detail.

Voice over is comprised of numerous genres covering all the areas in which voice over is used. The list is extensive, including Animation, Video Games, Commercial, Promo, Trailers, TV Narration, Corporate Narration, eLearning, Telephony, Audiobooks, and more! Learning how to identify these different types of genres is necessary so you can quote correctly, ensuring value for your work, and a fair rate for your clients.

Not all rates are made equally. As varied as the genres of the voiceover industry are, so are the rates that go along with them. Voiceover is not a flat per hour or per allotment service model. The value of voiceover work is different depending on the genre of work it’s in. A voice actor’s rate (read: value) for a national tv commercial for a large sports apparel brand is going to be different than a 3-minute internal corporate narration for that same brand.

Animation can be paid on a per-episode basis while video games are paid per hour when the actor is in session. eLearning is commonly paid per word or per finished minute while Audiobooks are paid per finished hour. We haven’t even touched on usage for Commercial, that’s coming next. I think you get the picture. Voiceover rates have many different rate structures. This is what makes understanding rates so challenging. You need to have a deep understanding of voice over in order to be proficient with its rates.

Here are some examples of common voiceover rate structures:

• Session Fee + Usage buyout – Most commonly used in the Commercial genre
• Time in Session (per hour) – Common with Video Games, Toys & Games, Character work, some Animation projects, and others
• Time basis – Used mostly with corporate, internal, and medical narration as well as explainer videos
• Per finished minute (pfm) – Rate is based on the finished (edited) run time of the project
• Per word (pw) – Rate is based on the total number of words in the project

What is usage? Usage is the term a voice actor’s work is licensed for a particular project. The word “usage” is most commonly used in regard to the non-union Commercial genre. This is because the voice actor’s work is tied to the media buy of the commercial, and the client is paying a licensing fee to use the voice over for that period.
Understand the 3 main factors that determine usage:

• • Types of broadcast medium the media buy consists of (ie: TV, Radio, Digital Streaming Content, etc)
  • Market or reach of the media buy (ie: National, Regional, or Local)
  • Length of the media buy (ie: 1 year, 6 months, 13 weeks)

Learn about conflicts, exclusivity, and why “in-perpetuity” or unlimited use can be dangerous for your career and doesn’t honor or respect your value.

You have to believe and be confident in your worth in order to command it. The first step is to let go of the scarcity mindset so common with artists. We want so badly to “succeed” in our artistry, that we don’t always place the value it commands with it. The validation we seek to belong in this hyper-competitive industry can outweigh our desire to be fairly compensated.

Standing firm on a price you’ve given a client can be intimidating, but it’s an essential skill for voice over actors who want to get paid fairly for their work. Negotiating with confidence will show your clients that you value your work and are willing to stand up for yourself. If you accept rates that are lower than what you’re worth, you’ll be setting an unsustainable precedent for future work and limiting your earning potential.

Negotiating should never be a battle or a tug of war, but rather a spirited dialogue of ideas, expectations, and goals. GVAA helps you create your own negotiating style and tools. By coming up with rates that are fair to all parties involved, you’ll be building trust and respect, ultimately creating better working relationships. Your client will be much more likely to hire you again and gladly refer you to other clients as well!